Taking Back What's Mine
by markofthemoros
Summary: In response to a request by Shiranai Atsune. Riku learns the hard way that everyone has a boiling point. That there is darkness in every heart. Even Sora's. The opening act leading to the actual events is sucky and predictable. Bear with it, it's short. :D Please note the warnings: Dark!Sora. Violence, character death.


**AN: This is my response to Shiranai Atsune's request. They wanted something with a dark Sora, and they wanted it violent. Well, ask and you shall receive.**

 **I was struggling to treat these characters so OOC. It's usually my big DON'T, but I took this as a challenge. Probably not my best work but I hope I delivered.**

 **Warnings: pretty brutal violence, character death.**

* * *

 **Taking Back What's Mine**

Riku's pants came in rapid puffs as he dashed along the alleys of the First District. The mellow lights of Traverse Town graced his anxious face, glistening in the sweaty skin.

Sora had left almost an hour ago. There's no way he would take that long taking care of a few small Heartless. Riku had this horrible feeling. Something bad had happened. Sora could have been hurt. Sora could have been worse than hurt. He gulped; he needed to hurry.

Cursing under his breath, he tore open the massive gate door leading to the Second District and hurried to gaze over the market place. There was no-one in sight.

"Sora! Sora, where are you?!"

His heart jumped as the familiar air of darkness whisked against his consciousness. Without a sound other than a whiz of materialization, Riku summoned his keyblade, the gruesome yet graceful cleaver with a beautiful angel wing protruding from the sharp edge. Admirable, and deadly.

The Shadow disappeared in a flash of purple in mid-air. Riku brought his blade to defend himself in case there were more. Those things seldom came alone, after all. And as he waited, the shadows around him begun to shift. Out of them emerged a dozen and a few Heartless – little creatures, and four of the tall, lanky and dangerous ones as well. Riku's eyes narrowed; the last time he had seen these he had been out to fight Roxas.

"I don't have time to deal with you," Riku noted at the creeping crowd. As the Heartless wobbled to surround him, Riku released a Firaga spell. It caught the creatures off guard; a few jumped quickly further away from the surprisingly stingy prey, but Riku listened the crackle as most of them burned in the ethereal fire. Without delay, he dashed to strike at the nearest little creature, slicing it neatly. A few drops of black liquid splashed onto the pavement, and Riku was already gutting the next one.

The last embers still smoldered as Riku vanquished the last of the larger ones in a whisp of darkness. Huffing, he scanned the area again, but let his blade disappear." That took care of it," he muttered. "Now–"

He was cut mid-sentence as his instincts flared and his head snapped to look up. A large shadow was in the middle of striking him from above. 'Shit! There was one more?!' And the weight was on him, Riku was knocked down into the pavement. His head met the stone, and his world went black.

As he came to, the first thing he knew was pain. It stung the back of his head, and he felt a pull in his hair. He was groggy and not just a little nauseous. He pried his eyes open a slit, taking in his surroundings. The hazy vision wandered around a scarcely decorated bedroom; there was nothing much more than a bed, a small table and a wash bowl. The wooden walls were undecorated. On the far wall was a window, but the shutters were down, letting only strings of cold lamp light in.

A room? Riku was puzzled. What had happened? He remembered being attacked by a Heartless – that one damn thing had survived, and Riku scolded himself for his carelessness! But how was he now in a room? Who had rescued him from the Heartless?

He went to bring his hands to lift himself up from the floor, but found that he couldn't. Perplexed, he tried again, only to find a strong pull against his numb wrists. His heart missed a beat as he understood he was bound. "Huh?!" Cold fear sat at his chest. His hands were securely tied behind his back with what felt like a hemp rope. Whoever had done this was no friend. But who? And why?!

"Oh, you're awake? Took your time, Riku. I didn't think I hit you that hard."

That voice. Riku blinked to clear his vision in the dim light. It had sounded so familiar and yet not familiar at all.

"Who are you?"

The soft steps padded closer, and Riku's heart fluttered as he could make out the familiar form in the scarce light. The utterance was a mix of relief and disbelief.

"Sora?!"

The slender boy crouched to kneel before the silverette. He didn't say anything, though, merely looked at him, his eyes somehow searching. For what, Riku wasted no time to think about.

"Sora! Are you OK?! You're not hurt?"

"Me? Oh, I'm good. No need to worry about me." There was something dangerous about his friend's tone, and it made Riku gulp quietly. Something was wrong here. Something was terribly, terribly wrong. He tried to release his arms again, with no luck.

"Hey. Would you mind getting me out of these?"

"Yeaaah, I guess I could. But then I would just have to be redoing them again soon, so not gonna bother."

Riku felt his eyes widen as a small gasp of disbelief escaped him. "Sora…?"

Sora's grin had a sharp edge to it Riku couldn't interpret. It was a self-satisfied, selfconfident face Riku had seen on him so often. But this time it made his stomach lurch. It wasn't triumph he read over it. It was, and if it could have been possible corcerning Sora, akin to malice. And Riku was certain it didnt't belong there. It didn't belong to his best friend's face.

Running out of patience, Riku went to summon his blade. He would cut himself free, get Sora out of here and resolve this bizarre situati– "Huh?!" Riku visibly twitched as his hand still met air. Trying again with growing confusion, the blade refused to come. "What…?" The question was barely voiced, but apparently Sora heard it, for his grin widened, eyes narrowed.

"Looking for something?" Waiting for having his attention, Sora extended his arm to the side and in a whiz and a small crackle he held in his hand the Way to the Dawn, glimmering coldly in the filtered light.

Riku's breath hitched. "How?! It's not yours, Sora."

Sora's eyes widened in a flash of anger at those words, Riku noted, and his grin turned into a snarl.

"Oh, you didn't know?" Sora slithered as he brought the tip of the blade dangerously close to Riku's neck. The bound boy froze as he watched his own reflection dance on his own blade. "There are rules to keyblades, you know. You taught me this yourself once. I defeated you. You lost to me, so the keyblade changed its allegiance. It allies with me now." Sora stroked the edge of the wing against Riku's cheek, the srap edge cutting to draw blood; Riku squeezed his eyes shut and grimaced at the cold touch. His breaths had come small pants now, and Sora could see him shivering. "You of all people should know this."

From somewhere far away emerged a memory, and Riku understood. He recalled the time he had fought Sora and the Beast over at the Rising Falls, when he had still been the puppet of darkness he once was. He had done it himself. Taken the Keyblade from Sora by besting him in battle. He should have remembered. But it still made no sense! He hadn't fought Sora! He had fought the Heart–

Riku's eyes flew wide as a horrible thought occurred to him. The last Heartless. Hadn't been a Heartless.

Sora could apparently read each turn of the cogs in Riku's head as he gracefully brought the blade over his shoulder. "I have to say, I hadn't expected that Firaga, man. You damn near burnt my eyebrows off."

"Sora. What are you doing?" Riku's voice was a hiss.

He gasped in pain as Sora roughly gripped his hair and hauled him up. Riku wanted to bark something sharp at him but it stuck to his throat as he felt the kiss of metal on his neck. "I'm taking back what is mine." The blade pressed into the skin and Riku's breath hitched. "How does it feel, Riku? To watch how your best friend rips you of everything you've achieved? How someone excels you in every goddamn thing you've ever done?" Sora hissed , his face mere inches from Riku. "Well, guess what, Riku? It ends tonight!"

Riku didn't dare speak. Breathing heavily through his nose he waited in terror for something to happen. For Sora to release him… or for Sora to kill him. One look into those blazing pools of ice and fire spoke volumes to Riku. Whatever this was, Sora was dead-serious about it.

"What is wrong with you, Sora?"

Suddenly the threatening blade was gone. Blinking, Riku huffed a relieved breath, before a shattering knee was driven into his adbomen. Doubling over in pain, Riku spat out blood as air left him. His eyes watered, whole being shook as his knees gave up. He slumped onto the floor at Sora's feet, struggling to breathe.

Eyes cold, Sora watched gleefully the man writhe before him. Quietly he crouched down at his side, bringing a hand to rest at Riku's shoulder. Through his pain the silverette gazed at him in utter disbelief. Sora turned him gently onto his back. Riku didn't resist but eyed him warily; he was still panting lightly. "Riku..." Sora ran his fingers gently over the other's cheek. "Does this hurt?"

Before he had time to prepare, Sora thrusted the blade into Riku's inner thigh. The scream of utter agony was strangled and raw and sounded even better than Sora had imagined. He jerked the weapon around to drive it deeper and watched in satisfaction as the other shook as wave after wave of pain assaulted him. In the midst of Riku's screams he made out his own name.

"So...ra..! S- stop! Sora!"

Intrigued, Sora smirked as he twisted the blade one more time, relishing the agonized yelp. He then tore it out, the once white wing stained in Riku's blood. The silverette was shaking uncontrollably. He had his eyes squeezed into pained grimace, lashes moist of the fresh tears. He was slumped limp on the floor, breathing in heavily through his nose.

Sora's expression was dark and unreadable as he took in every pained gasp, every flinch. And the blood. There was a lot of it. Much more than he had expected, and Sora wondered if he had made a mistake. Color was draining from Riku's face. Just to be on the safe side, he rose to fetch a Potion he had stashed just in case, well, this would happen.

He applied just enough to stop the bleeding. Riku's labored breaths eased a little, and he wriggled to look at his tormentor. Friend. 'Sora', he decided. He didn't know how else to call him at this point. "Friend" was out of commission at this time.

"Wh-" Riku started but was interrupted by a swift stomp directly to his fresh wound. Agony burst in him again, tearing out another scream, but he refused to be silenced. "W-why are you.. doing… this… Sora?! What is.. wrong.. with you?!"

Riku's heart froze at the amusement in Sora's small laughter. "The fun thing is, Riku, I don't feel wrong. I don't feel wrong at all! On the contrary, I can't remember when I've been more pumped up in my life!"

Riku's reply was a pained, inconceivable hiss. "You don't m-mean that… Sora! I know you! This- this is not you!"

Suddenly Sora's face turned serious and an eery malice settled over it. "Don't you dare try and take even this away from me, Riku. Pretty much everything else you've already claimed but this, this you will not. This is going to go my way."

"What are y-you talking about?! You-you're not like this!"

Sora eyed him poisonously, then grabbed the front of Riku's shirt to pull him up. "Ever since we were kids, Riku, ever since then you've been doing nothing but stealing everything away from me. As kids, it was the races and the games. You always, always beat me. In everything. And even that one time I actually bested you, you called it a draw because you slipped and came second. As if it had been my fault you slipped. You just simply refused to let me win, didn't you, you arrogant bastard? And the sword fights. You were always trying to show off for Kairi, even though you knew I liked her, even as a kid. You've always, always tried to pick her up, to take her away from me, too! And now, this–" Sora called back Riku's blade again. Riku gazed at it, lost and confused. He couldn't fathom this. Any of this!

"This was supposed to be my thing, Riku. Mine! I was the Keyblade's Chosen. So what the hell–" Sora roughed him up a little before bashing his head with his own,"–what the hell is it doing with you?!"

Sora pushed him into the ground, snorting at the pained yelp Riku gave as his injured leg was agitated. "Who was it whom th Keyblade chose? Me! It chose me, Riku! But then you just had to have it, didn't you? You had to steal even that from me. And why? Simply because it was something I for once happened to have that you didn't!"

"That's not it, Sora! Y-you know it isn't…!" Riku hissed back from behind clenched teeth. He was getting desperate. "I... never... asked for... the Keyblade."

"So you admit to everything else?" Sora snorted, eyes an icestorm of fury.

Riku was silent. Riku had never thought about it, but how Sora said it made him sound like an utter asshole. An inconsiderate brat. He couldn't deny it, though. He had been. An ass. Shame burned him as he understood how put down Sora must have felt. And he hadn't realized. Sora was always the one cheering everyone else up. Sora, who was always happy, always smiling, always caring. How long had he harbored his grudge?

"I'm… I'm so sorry, Sora."

"Sorry?" Sora whispered, his voice pure venom. He dug his foot into Riku's wound and squished it, Riku writhing and whimpering in pain under his hard eyes. "You have systematically robbed me of every precious thing I've worked so hard to achieve for, every moment of glory you've made meaningless by doing it better. But hey, it's all gonna be alright, man. Because _you're_ _sorry_."

Riku's heart skipped a beat. He was suddenly certain he had heard his final judgement in those words. The sheer vengeage wrapped around left him in fear of death. Sora was indeed dead-serious. And it was Riku who was going to end up dead.

"Sora, p-please–! Aah! … You can sti...stop th-this!" he ground out.

Sora didn't ease the pressure on Riku's injury, but he fell silent to look at him. The blood on his face had smeared across his cheek and into the hair, he was pale and sweaty and shaking all over. His eyes were squeezed shut in a grimace. Chest rose and fell in rapid pants, and most of Riku's upper leg was stained crimson.

"Tell me something, Riku," Sora demanded quietly. "Why did you want to be a Keyblade Master?"

Riku's heart missed a beat. He had no simple answer to give. "I...I didn't." Sora's eyebrows rose. "I ju-just wanted to… learn to control the da-darkness in me."

Sora pressed the wound again, a real squish this time, and relished the cries. "Being the Keyblade Master was my dream, you know," Sora spoke sternly, ignoring the other's pain. "But I'm not the Keyblade Master here, am I? It's you. Again and again it's you – and you didn't even want it!" Sora's tone had risen. "You stole my dream again, and you didn't even want it!"

Sora grabbed Riku's shirt to lift him, and punched him hard; blood droplets slattered on the floor where the skin was broken, mixing with sweat and fresh eyewater. Sora beat him; it wasn't until he felt the head slump and heard the first wet gurgling sound that he stilled.

Riku was barely concisious. Hazy eyes behind drooping eyelids, his face a mess. Hair stuck into his skin, tinting it crimson. His breaths were shaky and shallow. He had gone limp. The voice was tiny but resilient,

"Sora… please stop. Stop doing this. Don't- don't make… the mistakes I made."

Sora understood what he meant. He could smell the undertone of darkness. It swirled around them heavily. And he didn't care.

"What makes you think it'll be a mistake?"

Riku's eyes widened to stare at him in horror. No, no, not this. Not him! Not Sora! Riku knew he had lost – the Light had lost – when he saw the first faint swirls of darkness dance on Sora's skin.

Sora let him fall down, Riku's shocked eyes glued onto him. He stood up to stand above him, and even in the dim light Riku could see the thickening cloud of darkness growing around Sora. It was both magnificient and horrifying sight. And as Sora stretched his arm again, darkness flew in to form Riku's keyblade. Too weak to speak, Riku only shook his head.

Sora's eyes were cold as he looked as his captive, but the smirk he had spoke volumes of malicious intent. Of bloodlust. "You're right, Riku. This isn't mine," Sora spoke with vehemence as he gripped the Way to the Dawn with both hands and brought it up, blade straight down.

'No.'

"You can have it back!"

'Sora, please!'

Sora drove the keyblade down in one swift motion. Blood gushed to stain the floor, stain his face as he tore it off, and then stabbed again. And again. And again. The crimson started spreading around them, the lamp light filtered through the blinds glimmering on it faintly.

Sora's breaths came in heaves. He let go of the keyblade and stumbled backwards. The blade begun to evaporate into darkness. Sora didn't call it back.


End file.
